Crazy Fun Night!

The title says it all! In honor of the Jackson's coming from North Dakota, we hosted their friends for an evening of fun. Cassie had some girlfriends over but somehow I missed getting their pictures before they left for the night but I got the rest of the kids. It was a great night with pizza, flashlight tag, video games, and a sleep over for Zack and Mackenzie. That's when the fun really got started! Let's just say that 12 and 13 year old boys travel differently than 9 and 10 year old girls. It cracks me up! All the girls arrive like they are staying for a weekend with bags of hair supplies, sleeping bags, pillows, stuffed animals, and other accessories. Boys arrive in what they are wearing. Some have sleeping bags and a pillow others, what they are wearing. It is hilarious. When Bill and I decided to head to bed we checked to make sure everyone had what they needed. Let's just say we put every sleeping bag we own to use. Most of the boys didn't even want one, they wanted to just sleep on the couches. I should have known then that they were not intending to sleep at all!

When Bill and I finally went to bed we did a quick mental head count to be sure we had everyone we were supposed to have. I swear I am a responsible parent but it was a bit of a whirlwind! We checked off all 15 kids mentally and then went to sleep at 12:30, girls tucked in with a movie in sleeping bags in the family room and boys playing video games in the basement.

At 1:45 I heard lots of loud sounds coming below our room in the family room. Thought I should go tell the boys to keep it down so the girls could sleep. It was the girls! They were running around, eating Doritos and Cheese Puffs, singing, dancing, and being crazy girls and going strong with Erin sound asleep in the center of it all! I strongly encouraged them to get to sleep I was assured they would shortly.

When I heard people waking up at 6:45 I thought I would encourage them to get a little more sleep. Come to find out that at least 1/2 the boys NEVER went to bed. The entire night! Others went to bed at 4am. No wonder they didn't need sleeping bags. Not to worry, we set our security alarm so no one went outside! They had a blast and were out playing basketball by 8am.

Needless to say by noon the boys that were left were dropping like flies, passed out cold on the couch. The kitchen was full of empty pizza boxes, doughnut boxes, coke cans, basically it looked like a PG version of a frat party. I didn't have to ask anyone if they had a good time, it was obvious!

So glad that they were all able to get together with Zack and Mackenzie. It was crazy but I have to tell you Bill and I had a ball. It was a wonderful feeling to go to sleep with a house full of nice, good, well behaved kids having a "wildly fun kid night"!

Lily's birthday was the next day so we did a quick candle in her brownie and sang Happy Birthday!

I LOVE McKinley! He is a party animal and this shirt is his party joke!

Faith and Paige are so cute and had such a great time.

Lindy, Lily, and Mackenzie in Lily's traveling hair salon! She was whipping out hair styles all night!

Erin before she crashed!

Noon on Saturday.....

Zack and McKinley were snoring! Kyle made it until 4pm and then he took a power nap so he could make it through dinner with the rest of the Jackson clan that evening. Thank you everyone for coming and making this a special night.

Edible Plant Cell

Lindy and Paige had Nature homework to create an edible plant cell. They had to then take it to co-op class and share how they created it and then it was on display at showcase. Of course Mrs. Slone helped them out since some of the words can be pretty hard to pronounce. I did this with Kyle years ago but I have to say Lindy was way more into it than Kyle was, her expectations were much higher (translation - Mom had better not forget one part of the cell!)

So here is what we came up with. This needs to be documented so that I can hand the instructions over to Erin. She will be able to make her own when the time comes because of course she was very much a part of this one!

Cell wall - the pie plate

Cell membrane - the graham cracker crust

Nucleolus-dried cranberry

Nucleus -Ritz cracker

Mitochondrion - Fruit roll up cut and accordian folded

Cytoplasm - Green jello

Ribosomes - white sprinkles

Golgi Body - Fruit Roll up cut into circle filled with jelly beans

Chloroplast - Pecan

Vacuole - mini marshmallows

Vesicles - Chow Mein noodles

Large Vacuole - the pretzel rod

They were so proud and we had a great time raiding the pantry to come up with parts. I love projects like this, everyone learns so much and remembers so much more.

Spring Showcase

I have so many pictures from the last two weeks it is going to take me a week to get everything posted to share! We have been so busy but it has all been fun and school is getting done, just in more hands on ways. The co-op session is wrapped up and showcase was a huge success. We had 164 people attend (thanks to Bill who always does a head count!) which I think is a record high attendance. It is so great to see families come to support their students. Paige and Erin both played the piano, the girls were in a class song, but the star our family for the night was Kyle.

He presented his Battle of the Bulge speech that he gave earlier this year at Boy Scouts. He talks about the veterans that he has interviewed and finished up with a song written for the WWII vets "Before You Go". It is a wonderful  presentation and he did a great job on his speech. He will be presenting for our church congregation on Memorial Day weekend Sunday for all three of our services. He is just like his dad, loves to speak and does not get nervous at all. He also is very engaging with his audience and people really listen to what he has to say. Bill and I are very proud of what he has done with this project. It has taken on a life of its own and he has learned more than I ever imagined.

He also had a role in Hamlet of Claudius the King. All the kids in the play did an outstanding job and the set design class created a great set and props, I loved the crowns!

I would love to say that now that co-op is done for the school year that things are going to calm down but that is not going to happen! Things are as busy as ever with no end in sight, this is the new normal in the Miller house and I wouldn't have it any other way!

King Kyle and Queen Cynthia!

Cast of Hamlet

Birthday - Round 2

Good Morning Sunshine!

Erin awoke to signs and balloons decorating the family room, compliments of her sisters. At breakfast she opened the last of her birthday gifts, her big gift was yet to come! Bill took the day off so that he could join us for lunch at "Bob Ebans" Erin's favorite lunch spot.Then it was off to Easton for her to get her ears pierced! She has been planning to do this on her 5th birthday for quite awhile and she was not backing down. She said at lunch that she was a little nervous but WOW she did a great job. A little flinch and that was it, I was expecting tears, she is a brave girl. A little shopping spree at Claire's and then it was home to recover from non stop partying. We finished off the day with an Oreo Madness Graters Ice Cream Pie. That girl loves her Oreos. What a great day for a great little girl. We love you Erin!

This shirt is another post!

Lunch at "Bob Ebans" with the family.

Ready...

Set...

Go!

So pretty!

Let's shop!

I love this picture of her bag and her little shoes. She HAD to wear one of her new birthday dresses. She chose her birth stone for her earrings. I think they look very nice. She is very proud of herself.

Time to hit the mall.

The end of a great day. Have a wonderful year Erin. We love you so much!

First Round of Birthday Celebration

The first round of birthday celebrating started Saturday. Erin planned her own party. She went shopping for party supplies last week and chose: Tinkerbell tablecloth, flower plates, butterfly napkins, Hello Kitty cups, and Princess dessert plates! I asked her if she wanted to look anywhere else and she said "no I have everything I love". She wanted Pizza Hut cheese pizza and wanted to pick out her own cake. She chose a beautiful pink cake with a baby cake on top, girly girl!
All of her beloved aunts, and grandma's attended along with her very special Uncle BJ. She had a ball opening her presents and truly loved everything she received. Round two pictures to follow shortly!

Books, books, and more books! She loves to read and Grommy got her the Francis books and Aunt Whit and BJ got her books from the Little Miss and Men series.

Last year Mimi got Erin an adorable dress for her birthday. Of course she has out grown it and she wanted another "birthday" dress and Mimi did not disappoint!

Bill and I got her a scooter of her own, no more borrowing her siblings! Ethan got her all adjusted and ready to ride...

all through the house!

Aunt Gretchen gave her a shopping spree at the store of her choice, I think she picked Michael's. She loves crafty stuff.

When I was laying with her at bedtime she whispered in my ear, "Mama am I five yet?" Not yet baby just another day.

We all love you so much Erin! Have a great year being five.

Bugle Boy Girl!

Lindy was so excited to get her dance warm ups! The pants are huge and the jacket is a little big but she is so proud to be a part of the dance competition team. Friday was her first competition and her team got second for their Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Tap performance. All the girls did a great job and had so much fun. They have another competition in two weeks and then the recital so there is plenty of dance left this spring. I think most of the girls on the team are returning to competition next year. They are becoming good little dance buddies. Congrats Lindy we are very proud of you!